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Molar teeth study could provide key to unlocking human fossil record
Would British farmers be better off in or out of the EU?
Environment department ministers are at odds over whether a Brexit would be good for farmers, who receive roughly £2.5-3bn a year in EU subsidies
A battle for the Tory heartlands of the UK countryside has broken out within the government’s ministerial ranks, as David Cameron’s farming minister has defied his boss to urge farmers to vote to leave the EU.
George Eustice, the farming minister, told the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) annual conference on Wednesday that they would be better off out of the EU. “We would do far better as a country if we ended the supremacy of Europe and shaped new fresh-thinking policies that really deliver for our agriculture,” he said.
“The truth of the matter is that if we left the EU there would be an £18bn a year dividend, so could we find the money to spend £2bn a year on farming and the environment? Of course we could. Would we? Without a shadow of a doubt.”
His appeal for exit was a very public breaking of ranks with the secretary of state for environment, farming and rural affairs, Liz Truss. She addressed the conference on Tuesday with a plea to farmers to stay within the EU, calling an exit “a leap into the dark” at a time when farmers are already hard-pressed.
She told the conference: “By voting to remain we can work within a reformed EU to reduce bureaucracy and secure further reform while still enjoying the significant benefits of the single market, which gives us access to 500m consumers. At a time of severe price volatility and global market uncertainty, it would be wrong to take a leap into the dark. The years of complication and risk caused by negotiating withdrawal would be a distraction.”
At stake, for farmers, is the roughly £2.5 to £3bn a year - varying according to the euro exchange rate - that farmers receive from Brussels. This is paid on the basis of the area of land they farm, and efforts they make to improve the environment, for instance by maintaining habitats for wildlife. Farmers also benefit from access to the EU market, which accounts for more than half of all British food and farming exports, amounting to more than £11bn a year.
Despite Eustice’s assurances, it is unclear that a Conservative government after a Brexit would divert similar levels of taxpayer funding to farmers, and neither the prime minister, David Cameron, nor Truss has made such promises.
Such a measure would be deeply controversial, particularly as current subsidies tend to favour the biggest and richest landowners. To put the money in context, the NHS budget boost in the last review was £3.8bn.
Many farmers argue that the benefit from the EU’s subsidy rarely reaches them, in any case: supermarkets factor in the expected income in their calculations of what to pay their suppliers.
The NFU has been carefully neutral on the issue, but did include in its information pack for the 1,400 farmers attending its conference a comparison of the £153 a year paid by the UK per person into the EU with more than £106 per citizen a year from Norway “with no influence” because Norway is not a member. Norway is frequently cited as an alternative model by those favouring an exit.
For the Tory party, farmers and rural communities have always been a bedrock of support. Few rural constituencies outside Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and a few in the south-west of England vote anything but Conservative. But some farmers feel that they have been taken for granted, while buffeted by the forces of international trade. Farmgate prices for produce such as milk, wheat and pigs have plummeted by more than a third in the last year.
Farming votes in the referendum are up for grabs as never before. When the Guardian questioned farmers at the conference on whether they would prefer to remain in or leave, there was a clear split, with a substantial number opting to leave.
Organic consumers avoiding processed and red meat, sales show
Data on British buying habits in 2015 reveals a move away from products such as sausages and bacon in favour of fish and poultry
Consumers of organic food are avoiding processed and red meats in favour of fish and poultry, according to data on UK buying habits for 2015.
The move away from products such as sausages and bacon may be because high-end consumers are heeding growing warnings about their impact on health. That was reinforced by an assessment by the World Health Organisation in October that placed cured and processed meats in the same category as asbestos, alcohol, arsenic and tobacco as major causes of cancer.
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Green Army Round Five
Dragonfly telescope shines a light on dark matter
Indoor and outdoor air pollution 'claiming at least 40,000 UK lives a year'
Report finds air pollution inside and outside the home is costing £20bn a year as well as causing tens of thousands of deaths
Air pollution both inside and outside the home causes at least 40,000 deaths a year in the UK, according to new report, which estimates the cost of the damage at £20bn.
The major health impact of outdoor air pollution is relatively well known but the report, from the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, also highlights the less understood impact of indoor pollution, as well as the growing evidence of harm to children’s health and intelligence.
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Community Heritage and Icons Grants 2015-16 now open
The 'firefall': sunlight on Yosemite waterfall creates rare illusion
For just a few days each year, the water of Horsetail fall in Yosemite national park appears like lava, drawing crowds of onlookers and photographers
Hundreds of photographers have swarmed to Yosemite national park to catch a rare glimpse of a “firefall” – a phenomenon that makes it appear as if water has turned into lava, flowing from a volcano.
For about 10 days each February, sunlight illuminates Horsetail Fall in a way that looks like lava is tumbling down the rock face. The light show can prove elusive – local photographers said this is the first February in four years in which conditions have been ideal to capture the firefall.
Continue reading...Donations for funeral costs of six-year-old brown snake victim reach $3,000
Fundraising campaign to help northern New South Wales family pay for Kathryn Sullivan’s funeral raises more than $3,000 in 24 hours
Australians have donated more than $3,000 to help pay funeral costs for a six-year-old girl who died after she was bitten by a brown snake.
Kathryn Sullivan was bitten by the snake on a Walgett property in northern New South Wales last week. She was airlifted to the Sydney Children’s hospital but her condition deteriorated and she was transferred back to Walgett hospital where she died on Saturday.
Continue reading...Endangered dolphin passed around by beachgoers - video
Beachgoers in Argentina picked up and passed around an endangered Franciscana dolphin, which can be seen being plucked out of the water before being petted by beachgoers. Other images showed people taking selfies with the dolphin
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'Superinfected' mozzies could stop dengue and Zika
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US 'likely culprit' of global spike in methane emissions over last decade
Harvard study shows 30% rise across the country since 2002 with peaks coinciding with shale oil and gas boom, reports Climate Central
There was a huge global spike in one of the most potent greenhouse gases driving climate change over the last decade, and the U.S. may be the biggest culprit, according a new Harvard University study.
The United States alone could be responsible for between 30-60% of the global growth in human-caused atmospheric methane emissions since 2002 because of a 30% spike in methane emissions across the country, the study says.
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